Interesting. I just did my first prime rib the other day, and used the Recteq video for holiday prime rib. One of the first thing he says to do in the video is take the meat out of the fridge and let it sit on the counter for 4 hours to come up to room temperature before cooking it.I mentioned this before and didn't do well, I'll try again...
If the meat sits (cooks/smokes) to long in a warm moist environment it will grow bacteria. The magic numbers that I've read is the IT of 140 must be reached within 4 hours to reduce the risk of bacteria growth. I personally don't buy the thought of "when the meat reaches an IT of 200 it kills the bacteria" theory because of your experience. This is the same reason that newer crockpots run hotter than the ones from several decades ago.
I've purchased bad pork before and it was rancid out of the package, no doubt it wasn't edible.